Strategy Decisions
50+ recent decisions
CVE response strategy — three-pillar overhaul (process + tooling + strategic kernel review)
May 12, 2026 · strategy · high91% confidence
In Engineering Weekly Sync, Peter operationalized the 5/11 Leadership Roundtable vuln-handling commitment into three concrete pillars: (1) Chris Baek to restructure the embargo/CVE comms doc with Jamie, separating process from tooling/templates; (2) tooling strategy — Peter commits to email Greg requesting Claude Opus 4.7 whitelist for CIQ accounts AND to set up unbridled internal LLM models on Fuzzball for vuln investigations; (3) schedule strategic kernel philosophy review for early June, with Nathan and Justin to provide a list of downstream automation efforts to prioritize.
People: Chris Baek, Jamie Brooks, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Steve Wallace, Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland
Open strategic review of RLC/RLK identity + upstream binding (Dirty Frag triggered)
May 12, 2026 · strategy · high78% confidence
Saturday 5/9 in #department-heads, in immediate response to Justin's Dirty Frag status table and Nathan's note about CIQ patches being shared with the RESF, Peter announced he wants the leadership team to take up a strategic question next week: what recurring vulnerabilities imply about CIQ's kernel posture, how tightly to bind to upstream, how to work with the RESF, and what it means going forward to be RLC and RLK. Aimed at framing input for the mid-to-late June LA in-person product-strategy session with Bjorn and Greg.
People: Peter Nelson, Greg Kurtzer, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Bjorn Hovland
Commit engineering to vuln-handling infra/automation at Leadership Roundtable
May 12, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
At the 5/11 Leadership Roundtable, Peter accepted an explicit action item to prioritize vulnerability-response infrastructure and automation work in engineering, and to update Chris Baek as the interim process owner. The commitment converts the 5/8 internal-to-engineering commitment (build/test infra to eliminate reactive interrupts) into a cross-functional commitment with Bjorn, Greg, Chris, and Lindsay in the room.
People: Peter Nelson, Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland, Chris Baek, Lindsay Aamodt
Reject open-ended LGU+ RHEL/OEL support commitments — best effort only
May 8, 2026 · strategy · high94% confidence
Nathan surfaced (via Justin) a CIQ <> LGU+ contract proposal requiring CIQ to provide workarounds and answer customer SR tickets for RHEL 6 (already EOL), RHEL 7/8/9, and OEL 6/7. Peter intervened in the same-day group DM with Bjorn, Art, and Ramesh to draw the line at best effort only — no commitments to deliver workarounds or answers. Asked Nathan if it is not yet in force so he can get in front of it before signing.
People: Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Bjorn Hovland, Arthur Tyde, Ramesh Srinivasan
Prioritize build/test infrastructure to eliminate reactive engineering interrupts
May 8, 2026 · strategy · high94% confidence
After Dirty Frag CVE took Linux engineering offline for 24 hours, Peter committed to prioritize building robust build/test infrastructure as the proactive response. Told Brady/Brian this requires Product leadership to de-prioritize other work to make room. Surfaced publicly in #department-heads thread asking how to structure infra for the new normal of AI-assisted exploit cadence.
People: Brady Dibble, Brian Dawson, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer
Ask Bjorn to deliver ARR/dilution/Series-B rationale to engineering org
May 7, 2026 · strategy · medium83% confidence
Committed to ask Bjorn to clarify the link between doubling ARR (to $20M), Series B funding with minimal dilution, and employee stock value — to be delivered in All Hands or in Peters org meeting. The intent is for Bjorn to walk the team through the knife-edge: failure forces more investor funding with significant dilution; success enables Series B with minimal dilution and a clear path to profitability.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Ryan Smith
Three-tier Rakuten kernel proposal — 8.10 preferred, 8.6 sustaining, $800k-$1M PS for full 8.6
May 4, 2026 · strategy · high87% confidence
Push Rakuten to migrate RLC 8.6 to 8.10. Three-tier proposal: (1) preferred — full support on 8.10 with CIQ vendor coordination to accelerate hardware recertification; (2) alternative — sustaining support on 8.6 with no new patches/backports (security risk on Rakuten); (3) PS engagement — $800k-$1M/year to fund two dedicated kernel engineers for full 8.6 support, framed explicitly as Professional Services cost not mainline engineering. June renewal is the forcing function. The original handshake-pricing deal with Tarek is void.
People: Ramesh Srinivasan, Suzanne Spencer-Purcell, Nathan Blackham, Greg Kurtzer
Everfox: require ~$2M front-loaded year-one payment, reject back-loaded $600k structure
May 4, 2026 · strategy · high93% confidence
Peter is requiring a large upfront payment ($2M floor with the proposal team; $4-6M float with Greg) for the new Everfox custom work (legacy CPU support, custom desktop) and rejecting the back-loaded $600k year-one structure. The $20M/10-year deal will be restructured to front-load payments, potentially by reducing total contract value if needed. CIQ will not absorb non-reusable engineering work without immediate funding.
People: Ramesh Srinivasan, Suzanne Spencer-Purcell, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Nathan Blackham, Brady Dibble
Engineering veto required on custom deals and new lines of business
May 4, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
Peter is implementing a formal process where Engineering has review-and-veto authority on custom deals and new lines of business. Engineering must be consulted to assess cost and feasibility before any deal is finalized. Discussed in Peter <> Chris 5/1 and applied immediately to the Everfox proposal restructuring on 5/4.
People: Chris Baek, Bjorn Hovland, Ramesh Srinivasan, Suzanne Spencer-Purcell
Ryan to POC AI-driven Veeam image builder, gated on Justin-approved test suite
May 1, 2026 · strategy · high85% confidence
Ryan will POC an AI-driven image builder, starting with Veeam, that automates custom image builds, testing, and documentation. Hard gate: AI-generated images must pass a Justin-approved test suite to prevent hallucinations. Long-term vision: a 'Chipotle line' image configurator letting users compose custom, repeatable builds from validated components.
People: Peter Nelson, Ryan Smith, Justin Haynes, Jamie Brooks, David Gomez, Jamin Maple
Ship CIQ kernel patch with extra fix; contribute upstream; race to be first/best on CVE response
May 1, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
Linux kernel CVE response: CIQ shipping 10 fixes vs CentOS Stream's 9 (CIQ found and is fixing an extra issue related to the CVE). Extra commit submitted upstream to centos-stream and acknowledged for inclusion. CIQ pushing to be first EL distro to release, with primary goal of customer reassurance and secondary goal of public proof point that CIQ contributes to security and is large enough to serve big customers. Also pushing patches to RLC kernels as fallback in case RH doesn't move quickly.
People: Peter Nelson, Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Joseph Tate, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Dave Dickerson, Lindsay Aamodt, Steve Wallace
Send IAG/Sam an operational due-diligence note on Raven Resonance (Thomas Suarez)
Apr 29, 2026 · strategy · medium74% confidence
After spending an hour with Thomas Suarez at Raven Resonances office during IAG Summit Apr 28, Peter wrote and sent Sam at IAG a structured operational assessment covering supplier pipeline, BOM, roadmap, manufacturing risk (including possibility of Raven-owned China manufacturing), photonics dependency, test facilities, hiring/culture, financials, capital plan. Conclusion: Theres a real company here. Forwarded the same note to Thomas for transparency.
People: Sam (IAG), Thomas Suarez (Raven Resonance)
Expand Atomicorp partnership scope to absorb compliance load CIQ will not staff
Apr 27, 2026 · strategy · high80% confidence
Peter directed deeper integration with Atomicorp specifically to avoid investing in internal HR/headcount around compliance. Atomicorp will carry as much of the compliance load (STIG, FIPS, audit, certification, ongoing attestation work) as they are willing to absorb, freeing CIQ from staffing a dedicated compliance function.
People: Nathan Blackham, Atomicorp (external)
Defer ARM64 Pro Hardened build until Core42 commits — group decision Peter endorsed
Apr 27, 2026 · strategy · high78% confidence
In Apr 26 Sovereign AI response review meetings, the team — with Peter participating — decided the response language to Core42 will acknowledge that Pro Hardened on ARM64 (and FIPS-143 ARM certification) is contingent on a client commitment, not unilateral CIQ investment. ARM64 build estimated weeks not months once committed; FIPS-143 ARM is ~$200k / 4-6 months and gates on a deal commitment. Peter explicitly told the room: "We are going to need Nathan to say when. I am not going to be able to say on this call."
People: Bjorn Hovland, Brian Dawson, Brady Dibble, Nathan Blackham, Adam Jackson, Peter Nelson, Erik Grundstrom (Core42)
Core42: pivot from Fuzzball sale to full-stack compliance partnership
Apr 18, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
After the Core42 Tech Dive Part 2 surfaced Core42 wants a single OS vendor for their full UAE compliance stack (NIST 800-53, BIS, IDAM, physical security) across three EOY-2026 GPU clusters, Peter immediately convened an internal Impromptu Zoom to reposition the opportunity. CIQ will propose a comprehensive partnership framing CIQ as the only group that can provide all requirements, with RLC Pro Hardened + Fuzzball + Ascender as the core stack and partners filling the remaining ~20%. Consultative play: CIQ will advise Core42 on which requirements in Eric Grundstrom's doc would cause unacceptable performance degradation vs. which can be met. Nathan to draft the proposal doc by EOD Saturday so CIQ can deliver an answer by Monday.
People: Peter Nelson, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Adam Jackson, Nathan Blackham, Brady Dibble
Reframe Azure relationship — CIQ supports RLC, not all of RESF
Apr 17, 2026 · strategy · high80% confidence
Directed Justin to align with Kelly on Azure messaging, clarifying that CIQ supports its own RLC offering (not the entire RESF ecosystem). Protects Nathans team from unbounded support burden while preserving the January 2027 contract renewal opportunity.
People: Justin Haynes, Kelly Hall, Nathan Blackham, Karl Abbott (Microsoft)
Committed CVE categorization + kpatch estimates to Google by Monday
Apr 17, 2026 · strategy · high82% confidence
After Tissa agreed no one can answer Madhus blanket questions, committed CIQ to deliver a CVE-type classification table with kpatch coverage estimates by Monday. Reshaping an unanswerable request into a structured, defensible answer by category.
People: Tissa (Google), Madhu (Google), Nathan Blackham, Justin Haynes, Max Spevack, Bjorn Hovland, Kelly Hall
Set Sales Scope Discipline on Nokia Opportunity
Apr 15, 2026 · strategy · high75% confidence
In MPDM with Adam Jackson, Bjorn, Greg, and Jonathon, set firm boundaries on product scope for the Nokia deal. CIQ should sell what it has and is good at, not build custom solutions to close individual deals. The bar for adding new capabilities is company-level strategic pivot territory — not deal-level customization. Stated 'enough money is a LOT' and 'its not going to be for another 500k, or just to close the deal.'
People: Adam Jackson, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Jonathon Anderson
Escalated Google/NVIDIA Rocky messaging discrepancy to Bjorn
Apr 14, 2026 · strategy · high65% confidence
Peter flagged in Leadership Roundtable that Google is giving NVIDIA conflicting information about Rocky Linux usage. One Google contingent confirmed usage to Peter/Bjorn/NVIDIA last week, while a separate contingent is now telling NVIDIA Rocky is not being used. Peter escalated to Bjorn for same-day resolution.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Nathan Blackham
Agreed to Uber Value Drivers Framework for Strategic Clarity
Apr 11, 2026 · strategy · medium55% confidence
Agreed with Bjorn and Chris Baek to restructure value drivers into a two-tier system: 'Uber Value Drivers' (Theme/Epic level) that group related granular drivers. This resolves the tension between strategic clarity (too many granular items fail to communicate corporate strategy) and operational granularity (engineering/marketing need precise items to sync on).
People: Bjorn Hovland, Chris Baek
Set Lab-to-Production Boundary — Nothing Ships Without Engineering Productization
Apr 11, 2026 · strategy · high73% confidence
Established with Bjorn that nothing from Greg's Innovation Group/Lab (Cedric) goes directly to production. Everything must pass through Engineering for productization, validation, and integration with build/signing pipelines. CIQ does nothing with RLC-Performant until the lab produces something viable.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Cedric
Defended Global Prioritization Model with Per-Team Computed Views
Apr 11, 2026 · strategy · high79% confidence
Convinced Greg that product prioritization must remain a single global list, not grouped by team. Agreed to add a computed property showing priority within each team for visibility. Fuzzball was reprioritized into top 20 in Exec meeting; Greg's remaining concern about Fuzzball not being high enough was resolved via the global+computed-property approach.
People: Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland, Brady Dibble, Jonathon Anderson
NVIDIA Partnership - Resource Commitment for Grace Vera Patch Support
Apr 9, 2026 · strategy · high82% confidence
Committed to assessing headcount needs for NVIDIA Grace Vera patch support — both for the first 6 months and then ongoing. Forwarded NVIDIA patch list to Nathan for SWAG assessment. Nathan estimated 3-6 months for RLC, faster for CLK 6.18. Communicated requirements to Scott Hara: hardware access, test suites, functional and performance targets.
People: Nathan Blackham, Scott Hara, Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland
Google Meeting Communication Coaching for Brady/Nathan
Apr 9, 2026 · strategy · high85% confidence
Directed Brady and Nathan on exactly how to communicate during the Google GDC follow-up call — present CIQ as calm, capable, and dedicated; don't volunteer unnecessary details; distinguish technical infeasibility from resource constraints. Personally bookended the engineering meeting with success criteria. Chose to keep GDC post-mortem attribution under Peter's name rather than crediting others.
People: Brady Dibble, Nathan Blackham, Kelly Hall, Max Spevack
FIPS Delivery Contingent on Google Commercial Commitment
Apr 8, 2026 · strategy · high89% confidence
Peter stated CIQ needs to make clear to Google soon that FIPS delivery depends on either getting a revenue ramp projection or a new contract. Google can't have the deliverable without the commercial commitment. This came after Bjorn reported Google's Madhu is delaying projection estimates and 'feels like they are trying to exert leverage.'
People: Bjorn Hovland, Kelly Hall, Max Spevack
Value Driver Consolidation from ~50 to ~3 Core Drivers
Apr 8, 2026 · strategy · high80% confidence
Peter demanded that the current list of ~50 'value drivers' be reduced to ~3 core, company-wide drivers that articulate CIQ's mission and differentiation. Called the current list a 'shotgun approach' and 'pile of stuff' that prevents focus. Test: if a product's value pillars cannot be tied to these core drivers, its strategic value to CIQ should be re-evaluated. Also requested a 1-year product vision for RLCAI/RLCH from Brian Dawson.
People: Brady Dibble, Brian Dawson, Chris Baek
Taking Personal Lead on All GDC Communication for Next Month
Apr 8, 2026 · strategy · high87% confidence
Peter decided to personally lead ALL Google GDC communication for the next month, replacing the current multi-voice approach. New framing: 'we are technically capable; let's discuss the contract' instead of 'we can do it if you pay us.' All GDC work must be categorized into two buckets: work CIQ would do anyway (GDC accelerates it) vs work done only for GDC.
People: Brady Dibble, Brian Dawson, Bjorn Hovland, Kelly Hall
FIPS 6.18 Option 2 Engineering Kickoff
Apr 7, 2026 · strategy · high91% confidence
After Manu at Google did not respond to the relationship reset email sent Sunday, Peter escalated the FIPS proposal to Tissa via Kelly. Tissa authorized CIQ to proceed. Peter then directed Nathan to begin engineering work on Option 2 (faster timing path) while awaiting the Atsec contract. Engineering was held in reserve until external confirmations landed to avoid thrashing.
People: Nathan Blackham, Kelly Hall, Bjorn Hovland, Brady Dibble, Tissa (Google), Manu (Google)
Google GDC Relationship Reset via CTO Email to Manu
Apr 7, 2026 · strategy · high95% confidence
Drafted and sent strategic email directly to Manu at Google Engineering, acknowledging communication disconnect, offering FIPS 6.18 acceleration at certification cost only (~$180k, CIQ absorbs NRE), directing shared git repo setup for co-development transparency, and requesting Google revenue ramp projections. Reviewed draft with Bjorn before sending; forwarded final to Max crediting his input.
People: Manu (Google), Bjorn Hovland, Kelly Hall, Max Spevack, Nathan Blackham
Agent IQ: Requiring Bjorn to Justify Before Supporting
Apr 4, 2026 · strategy · medium90% confidence
Peter directed that Bjorn must articulate how Agent IQ augments CIQ's portfolio before it gets engineering resources. Not killing the project outright but requiring strategic justification.
People: Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Ryan Smith
Google FIPS 618 as Commercial Leverage
Apr 4, 2026 · strategy · high95% confidence
Peter decided to use FIPS 618 kernel as leverage to push Google toward a paid contract before committing CIQ to significant new engineering work like live patching.
People: Nathan Blackham, Max Spevack, Kelly Hall, Google team
Icicle Skepticism Maintained — Minimal Investment Only
Mar 30, 2026 · strategy · medium81% confidence
When Max flagged that Ani (Icicle) was back and 'putting a lot of words in your mouth,' Peter reaffirmed skeptical stance: read the doc, have Damen do some testing, but don't spend more time than that. Google and CVE automation are the priorities.
People: Max Spevack, Ani Fox
Google Contract Engineering Justification
Mar 30, 2026 · strategy · high82% confidence
Directed Nathan Blackham to provide engineering cost breakdown for GDC work, and Kelly Hall to provide revenue numbers, building justification for higher pricing in Google contract renewal/expansion. Nathan confirmed ~$800K/yr cost for 1-2 engineers on GDC with zero profit, and CIQ actually spends more on GDC than GCE.
People: Nathan Blackham, Kelly Hall, Max Spevack
Established Fuzzball AI validation process
Mar 25, 2026 · strategy · high95% confidence
Committed to validating Greg's Fuzzball AI marketing claims before they go external. New process: Greg/Jonathan provides desired story, Peter documents engineering tests required, engineering validates and gives thumbs-up/down. HumanX conference in 2 weeks is the forcing function.
People: Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland, Jonathan, Chris Wolford
Sensitive Decision
RESF — Deliberately accepted engineering capacity hit for RESF support
Mar 24, 2026 · strategy · medium78% confidence
Explicitly committed to accepting CIQ engineering disruption from RESF support work. Stated he'd be 'upset' if there isn't impact on engineering — signaling this is the right priority trade-off and meaningful work should be happening.
People: Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland
RESF — Committed CIQ resources (Dieter/Nathan) and proposed tech lead structure
Mar 24, 2026 · strategy · high94% confidence
Committed Dieter and Nathan to near-full-time RESF work. Proposed Dieter as RESF tech lead reporting to Peter for ~1 year. Told Leigh both are available immediately (Dieter now, Nathan when back from vacation). Scheduled Tuesday alignment meeting with Greg/Bjorn/Max to formalize structure and authority. Briefed Max on strategy: unified front with Bjorn, carrots and sticks approach for Greg meeting.
People: Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland, Max Spevack, Jonathan Dieter, Nathan Blackham, Leigh Hennig, Mustafa, Skip, Taylor, Sherif
Sensitive Decision
Google Deal — Engineering Owns Resource Projection
Mar 18, 2026 · strategy · high82% confidence
Directed that engineering (not finance/biz dev) should own projecting what the Google deal requires in terms of team size and capacity. Participated in Google Deal review meeting where consolidated $6M/yr development fee proposal was developed, including engineering guardrails (live patching scope limits, early renewal trigger). Deal structure: $6M dev fee for 5-7 senior engineers, uncapped variable usage fees (removing $1M cap), 15-25% margin on premium listings + MDF, early renewal trigger if scope exceeds funded team capacity.
People: Max Spevack, Nathan Blackham, Kelly Hall, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer, Katie O'Malley
RESF Operational Framework — CIQ Resources Work Under RESF Direction
Mar 18, 2026 · strategy · critical95% confidence
Established and communicated to entire engineering org that all CIQ work for RESF must be done 100% at RESF direction, with every request flagged for Peter's visibility. Reinforced individually with Ryan (get accounting of in-flight work, ensure RESF person directing), Nathan (hold then green-light Taylor contact with specific messaging), and Mustafa (offer resources under RESF direction, recommend MatterMost for coordination).
People: Nathan Blackham, Ryan Smith, Mustafa Gezen, Max Spevack, Greg Kurtzer, Chris DiBona
Post-RESF Consolidated Deliverable Reset
Mar 13, 2026 · strategy · high94% confidence
Decided to deliver a single consolidated update to Lindsay on revised March deliverables after RESF work stabilizes, rather than incremental delay announcements. Nathan will reset all project dates at once.
People: Nathan Blackham, Max Spevack, Lindsay Aamodt
Brian Clemens — Loop In After Front Door Closes
Mar 11, 2026 · strategy · high72% confidence
Decided Brian Clemens should be brought into RESF matters only after the front door is closed, acknowledging he'll be critical for reconstruction but the current phase requires operational security. Conditional on his behavior: 'If he hasn't gone off the reservation at that point.'
People: Brian Clemens, Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland
Endorsed Bjorn's Linux Prioritization Framework
Mar 11, 2026 · strategy · medium63% confidence
Endorsed Bjorn's four-principle framework for prioritizing Linux work (Parity, Value, Access/ubiquity, Integration) and directed him to provide concrete examples demonstrating the framework in action.
People: Bjorn Hovland
RLC AI — Ship Iteratively Despite Unclear Vision
Mar 10, 2026 · strategy · medium72% confidence
Directed that RLC AI should ship something iteratable now rather than waiting for a clear long-term vision. Product direction should be discovered through market interaction, not predetermined.
People: Max Spevack
RESF Operational Security — Compartmentalize Until Board Action
Mar 10, 2026 · strategy · critical94% confidence
Directed that Brian must not be told anything until after the RESF board notification. Emphasized extreme caution about leaks to Lewis. Approved Joseph being read into the initiative but warned about leak risk. Sequenced information flow: board action first, then notifications, then credential recovery.
People: Nathan Blackham, TJ Gohl, Steve Wallace, Max Spevack, Jonathan Dieter, Justin Haynes
Sensitive Decision
Prioritize GPU Optimization to Define Team Capability Needs
Mar 8, 2026 · strategy · high78% confidence
Directed that GPU utilization optimization be prioritized for Fuzzball/RLC AI, using the priority as a diagnostic to reveal what in-house capabilities the team needs.
People: Greg Kurtzer, Bjorn Hovland
Prioritize Google Exec Meeting — Adjust Reno Travel
Mar 6, 2026 · strategy · medium78% confidence
Agreed to meet a confidential new Google executive (distinguished engineer from Google Cloud, came through Tissa) for Monday dinner or Thursday lunch. Thursday option requires returning from Reno Wednesday night. Directed Greg to cover Toyota in person on Wednesday if needed.
People: Kelly Hall, Bjorn Hovland, Sarah Almaraz, Greg Kurtzer
RESF Option A — CIQ-Led Transition with Narrative Reframing
Mar 5, 2026 · strategy · critical81% confidence
Adopted Option A (CIQ-led transition) as the only viable path for RESF. Reframed narrative for Greg as 'skeleton' foundation for future vibrant community, not 'threadbare' end state. End-state vision: Rocky Linux displaces Alma and Ubuntu as de facto enterprise OS. Identified critical leadership gap requiring new empowered leader ('mystic unicorn') deputized by remaining board. Internal story: 1-year transition to 501(c)(6).
People: Max Spevack, Bjorn Hovland, Greg Kurtzer
Unified Google Proposal — Present Combined GDC/GCE to Rohan
Mar 4, 2026 · strategy · high92% confidence
Aligned Kelly and Bjorn on presenting a unified GDC/GCE proposal to Rohan (Google senior director) instead of negotiating separately. Reframing from pro-serve/ticket model to value-driven partnership with a large fixed annual fee ($8-9M).
People: Kelly Hall, Bjorn Hovland, Katie O'Malley, Rohan (Google), Tissa (Google)